The incidence of accidental deaths from gunshots is not new in the country but it has become a worrying trend that has been allowed to persist.
Guns are weapons of defence and, indeed, come in handy when one is attacked and needs to defend himself or herself from the assailant(s).
It is in view of their propensity to take lives that guns are not very common in this country and their use is mostly limited to the Ghana Armed Forces and the Ghana Police Service and other security institutions who are charged with ensuring the security of the state and its citizens.
However, individuals are able to keep guns when they are legally procured and registered and permits have been given for their use.
Our worry is not with the individuals who possess registered guns, or the security agencies that are tasked with maintaining the peace we enjoy as a country.
The Daily Graphic finds it very disturbing that firing of musketry at the installation of chiefs and cultural events to enliven them has now become deadly because live bullets, instead of gunpowder, has become the order of the day, as happened at the weekend.
Just last Saturday, four persons were shot dead while a fifth was wounded and is in critical condition after a musketry went off accidentally during the coronation of a new chief, Nana Essel VI, for Ekumfi Esarkyir in the Central Region.
While we commiserate with families of the deceased, and pray for the speedy recovery of the injured victim, we say it is time we put an end to these pointless killings.
On countless occasions even the police who have been dispatched to disperse crowds have ended up using live bullets and killing innocent citizens they have been employed to protect, although they are required to use rubber bullets if they must fire their guns to protect themselves, other lives and property.
We believe that what happened at Ekumfi Esarkyir is a wake-up call to the Inspector General of Police and the entire police leadership to put in place stringent measures to ensure that their men receive the requisite training on the acceptable standards for effective and incident-free crowd control at all times, before they are deployed.
Our laws must also bite, so that if a police officer is found not to have acted professionally in keeping the peace, he or she would be made to face the full rigours of the law and the necessary sanctions from the Ghana Police Service.
This is not the time to shield those who act unprofessionally in the discharge of their duties because a life lost is never replaceable. Let us ban the use of live bullets in dispersing crowds and guns with live bullets at social gatherings.
